Turkish prosecutors on Wednesday demanded up to 20 years in jail on terror charges for two educators who have been on hunger strikes for over 75 days to protest their dismissal by the AKP government in a purge after last year's failed coup.
Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça are under custody ahead of trial by an Ankara court on charges of "membership of a terror organisation", specifically accused of membership of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), an outlawed leftist group.
The educators have been formally arrested based on the allegation that "the evidence has not been gathered fully yet and if they are not arrested, this would harm the functioning of the justice", which practically means the court has no evidence.
Özakça and Gülmen began their hunger strike two and a half months ago and have been surviving on water alone.
In their indictment, Ankara prosecutors asked for up to 20 years jail for the pair, charging them with membership in a terror group, terror propaganda and breaking the law on demonstrations, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
Speaking at a news conference in Rome, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu accused two educators, who have not yet been put on trial and convicted by any pro-government-designed court, as "terrorists".
"Whoever supports terror groups will have action taken against them. This has nothing to do with freedom of expression," Çavuşoğlu said.
Accusing arbitrarily arrested opponents as "terrorists" is a frequent accusation by the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his AKP government.
Over 100,000 people from the public sector including judges, teachers, doctors, academics have been dismissed in a series of purges.
'HUNGER STRIKE IS AGAINST ISLAM'
Turkish parliament human rights commission member Said Yüce, also a deputy of the AKP had commented that hunger is a strike is against Islam and "only God can take away one's life". Yüce also noted that relevant authorities are working on the case of two dismissed educators on hunger strike:
